Aura was energy produced by the soul.
Aura was no more than a byproduct of generations of dust exposure, an adaptation shown in all living things.
Aura was a blessing from some god or gods.
While there existed no indisputable truth about the origins of aura and how man learned to use it, based on the reading I've done those were the prevailing beliefs. The first was obviously a spiritual take on things, the second a more evolutionary approach, and the final was the one constant in religions across Remnant.
Which was true? Ozpin or Salem might have the answer to that, but it didn't really matter to me.
I'd subscribed to the same view Raven shared with me over the course of our training: aura was a tool. A useful energy that we should squeeze every drop of usefulness out of without becoming solely dependent on it.
And right now, that energy was flowing through me. From my center outwards, the warm power ran up my chest and down my waist. Through my shoulders and down by thighs. Through my arms and legs. Then hands, feet, fingers, and toes. It even flowed up my neck, a strange calm taking hold as it fully settled around my head.
"See, works great, doesn't it?"
I opened my eyes.
Summer, white cloak fully wrapped around her body, was directly across from me. The both of us were out in the backyard sitting cross legged on dirt and grass, the sun only just beginning to rise to bring heat to the cool morning. We weren't the only ones out here, Raven off at the training posts carrying out her usual routine.
Something that I should've been doing right alongside her but she'd, without any explanation, pawned me off to Summer who'd come by for an early visit. Even without an explanation, I'd say it was a good decision.
"I think so." I said while moving my hands slightly. No red flickers colored my vision despite the fact that my Sharingan wasn't active.
I had been a little skeptical about Summer's training method, something she supposedly did when she was younger and learning to use aura herself. Before attempting to form a shield, she had me sit out here just focusing on our auras, a sort of pseudo meditation, and eventually manipulating it throughout the rest of our bodies.
And, just like she claimed, maintaining an aura shield after that drawn out exercise was far easier.
"Mmmm." Summer hummed eyes closed for a moment as she swayed her head side to side. Yeah, even after the two us doing the exercise together, it was still a little hard to believe she of all people could sit around in place for so long. She wasn't the same sort of innocent excitable that Ruby was, or I guess I should be saying was going to be, but she was definitely the active sort. The kind of person you couldn't exactly imagine lazing around even if they didn't have anything important to get done.
Her eyes snapped open, her usual smile widening. "Since you're so good at this, how about we try something a little harder? Up for the challenge?" I nodded. "I knew you'd be."
Summer's own aura flickered away in a red noticeably more vibrant than mine and Raven's as she raised her left hand, palm spread out and facing the clear skies above. "Now remember, you're already doing good with your aura. This is just a fun little challenge. Even if you can't do it that's nothing to feel bad about."
As she reassured me, the vibrant red light of her aura took shape over her palm. And only her palm. Rather than forming a shield that wrapped around her body or even the entirety of her hand, she was shaping her aura over her palm. By the end, a transparent disk outlined by the red of her aura's color had fully taken shape.
"Here." She brought out both her hands, turning them over and facing her to me. "Show me your hands."
I did as she said, more than a little curious about where she was going with all of this, and she reached forward.
The differences between our shields were plain to see.
The fingers of her right hand easily interlocked with mine, the warmth and loose grip of her hand both dulled but my shield not really doing much to stop us from touching.
The story was much different for our other hands.
My much smaller one spread across the disk she maintained over her hand. The thing actually acted as a fully physical barrier, definitively keeping my hand at bay. After a little encouragement from Summer I tried to push against it, the faintest ripples of red coloring spreading across the disk in response, the thing otherwise ignoring my efforts.
"Cool, right? Besides looking awesome, can you guess why this would be useful?"
It was obviously sturdier and more resistant than a full body shield. "To block stronger hits."
"Yep! I should've known you figure that out so quickly, smarty pants." Summer said with a nod before nudging her head towards their left hands. "Instead of releasing your aura all around you at once, you need to focus on where and how you want it to take shape. Go ahead and try."
Using less of my aura at once had to be easier right? Yeah right, I wasn't actually stupid enough to believe that. This sounded like what constituted a finer control over aura and in just about anything ever, finer control equated to more effort.
My full body shield flickered away as I focused on the palm pressed against Summer's aura disk. Using the feel of her aura as a reference as I tried to replicate the feel and shape to no avail. Directing my aura down my arm and to my palm? Easy enough. Making it form how and what exactly I had in mind? That's where I hit a wall.
Without my Sharingan active my aura was still resistant about being brought out at all. Once I managed to overcome that resistance, rather than heading where I wanted, the energy tried to emerge across the entirety of my arm, moving about wildly despite my best efforts.
Just like I thought, finer control wouldn't be easier than just because it called for less aura. Maybe I should use my Sharingan, just to get a feel for the proper control needed to do something like this then-
"Awww." Abruptly pulled forward by the still interlocked fingers of our other hands, I found myself in Summer's lap, her head nuzzling mine. "You're just so cute."
"Stop babying him." Raven called out, only glancing their way but not stopping her morning exercise.
"No! It has to be done." Summer retorted. "Besides, I don't hear Tally complaining."
Yeah, because she wouldn't stop even if I did. Fighting her off had just become a waste of energy I didn't have with all the training I was doing. So I just resigned myself to her whims, glad to have another effective way to train my control over aura under by belt.
I couldn't say which approach would be more effective, but it was a hell of a lot better than trying to figure it out while fending off Raven.
XOXO
"Go on and activate that semblance of yours, kid."
"I don't think mom-"
"Listen to your uncle." Raven ordered from the steps of the backyard porch. I glanced to her, and after she nodded, looked ahead to Qrow.
The unusual day carried on. Typically, I'd be fumbling and scurrying around the backyard to avoid Raven's attacks but here I stood across from Qrow who was doing some lax stretching. I had zero clue what was in store for me.
Nevertheless, I activated my Sharingan, the sharpened perception that came with it taking over.
"What she means to say, is that she's worried and wants to keep tabs on your semblance." Qrow explained as he stopped his stretching, lowering him stance. "We'll be playing a good old fashioned game of tag to get that done."
Tag?
Qrow launched himself forward, an arm pulled back as the distance between us was quickly crossed. I only managed to leap back thanks to my Sharingan but even then, my body reacted much slower than I would've lacked, an ironclad grip wrapping around my ankle.
Raven would've used that as a chance to slam me into the ground, but Qrow just tossed me, enough momentum given so that I could force myself into a flip, my feet digging into the dirt as I skidded across it.
"Looks like you're it already, kid." Qrow said with a faint smirk.
I took off into a sprint after him, swipes, grabs, and taps all shot at him. None hit their mark. Qrow wasn't even running or attempting to put any real distance between us, lazily weaving and stepping around any attempt I made at him.
He might not have moved with the same mercilessness that Raven did, but Qrow was no less capable.
My current approach had no chance of working. I needed to use the Sharingan's capabilities to its fullest and, instead aiming to catch him where he stood, aim for where he was moving next.
Feinting a grab, I paid close attention to the shift in his weight and the tensing of his muscles. He'd be stepping to my left.
I planted a foot in the ground, prepared to throw myself in that direction.
And tripped, barely throwing my hands out in time to avoid a face full of dirt.
"You might want to tie your laces, kid." Qrow pointed out. I looked at my shoes and sure enough, somehow, for the first time since I started all this training, they'd come undone.
For all the other aspects of it, Qrow's semblance could really be something. How exactly do you plan around bad luck? Wouldn't bad luck just do away with all of those plans? The way I saw it, there was only one answer.
Instead of tying them, I kicked off my shoes, my aura shield flickering to life as I rushed after him.
The only way to combat bad luck was to do away with anything that involved chance.
XOXO
A punch, a true and proper punch made use of more than the muscles in the arm. Anyone with even a passing interest in anything like boxing or martial arts, hell even other general forms of entertainment, knew that much even if they might not be aware of all the different types of punches or the details that separated one from the other.
Both hands up near my face, I stepped forward by the smallest bit as my fist shot forward. There was no big wind up or anything like that, only a faint twist of my hips and firm enough footing powering it.
"Nice one." Tai said, catching my fist in his much bigger one before I could snap it back for another punch. "Looks like you got a feel for it. A few jabs isn't going to help you beat your mom, trust me I know, but it's something you've got to practice."
After a week of training beneath the rotating eyes of Summer, Qrow, and Raven, the last the most painful days, the weekend had rolled around. Rather than just watching from distance Tai saw fit to get involved like everyone else, having taken me out back to teach me how to throw a proper punch.
I was very much one of those people whose only experience with that were shows and the like. I might have known broken up bits of information here and there but if someone asked what the difference between a hook and a cross was they'd get a shrug from me or some trashy answer based on information from anime that may or may not have had any basis in reality.
"How about you throw a few more then we head inside?" Tai asked as he released my hands, his palms held up in front of me once more. I nodded as I prepared more of the punches he'd shown me.
It might've just been punches but this was a nice change of pace.
Raven was content to let experience, pain, and scattered pieces of advice be my teachers. Qrow and Summer were focused on more arbitrary things involving my semblance and aura. Tai's training, in comparison to all of that, was the most down to earth, or I guess Remnant, to all that.
I wasn't just lucky, I'd hit the one in a billion jackpot with this reincarnation. An entire team of experienced huntsmen all dedicating their time to training me was probably the equivalent of being born into riches in a world full of monsters and I was more than happy to embrace all the changes.
Who would've thought just asking Raven to train me would snowball into all this?
XOXO
(A/N: Everyone is getting on the training train now.)